326 



SYNGNATHIDE. 



The figure on the left hand of the vignette at the bottom 

 of the page, represents one side of the pectinated gills of a 

 Pike ; that in the centre is drawn from the head of a spe- 

 cimen of S. acus, to show the gills in small tufts, the oper- 

 culum being removed : the right hand figure exhibits the 

 head of the river Lampern, part of the skin on the side of 

 the neck being removed to show another form of branchial 

 apparatus, in which portions of the gills occupy different 

 cells. The fish will be described hereafter, and this struc- 

 ture referred to. 



These delicate tufts in the Pipe-fishes are defended ex- 

 ternally by a large and hard operculum, having an aperture 

 in the connecting membrane at its upper and posterior part. 

 The fishes of this limited family are further remarkable for 

 the extreme tenuity of their bodies, as well as for the num- 

 ber and arrangement of the indurated and sculptured plates 

 by which their lengthened bodies are defended. They are 

 frequently called Needle-fish. 



The five species of British Syngnathi require to be ar- 



